1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to wireless communications monitoring and characterization and more particularly, to a tool for monitoring and characterizing short message service (SMS) quality.
2. Background Description
Today's wireless networks, which were designed mainly to carry voice traffic, can tolerate service problems such as patchy coverage and slow and tenuous connections, i.e., poor Quality of Service (QoS). Even a weak or patchy signal may still be understandable because, the human ear can still hear and understand the spoken word even in a very noisy environment. This is true even if there is a long pause between sending and receiving the voice communications signal.
However, these voice communications wireless networks are only marginally acceptable for data communications or data over wireless, e.g., Short Message Service (SMS) messages. SMS message technology is a standard feature in many second generation (2G) wireless networks, Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication devices. SMS also is standard in many third generation (3G) wireless networks, whether Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or IS-95A Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) based. Although, primarily a wireless application, Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) are beginning to make SMS available for wireline networks also, because of its growing popularity.
However, to improve data over wireless, sources of these service problems must be identified and, as each new source or problem is identified, addressed. So, to identify a service problem, the wireless network service provider must monitor communications continuously, measuring delivery delay and failure rates, for example. The service provider can use these measurements to characterize, debug and improve network performance, identifying network bottlenecks and problem areas and, then, making appropriate adjustments or corrections.
Unfortunately, data needed to identify, characterize and understand network problems may be distributed throughout the network, making data collection a complicated and somewhat difficult task. Generally, most data collection and debugging tools require manual on-site intervention. A service representative must be there to activate the debugging tool, retrieve available data, make system adjustments and then, deactivate the debugging tool.
So, the typical service provider can only determine after the fact that a particular SMS message center was overloaded yesterday or a particular load balancer was underperforming last week, for example. Thus, the service provider cannot conduct real-time analysis, but must instead rely on old data to anticipate problems that might arise and initiate prospective corrective action for those problems that may or may not reoccur.
Thus, there is a need for data collection within a wireless communications system that facilitates collecting data in real time, identifying problems as they occur, selecting a response or corrective action, initiating the response, and monitoring the efficacy of the response.